'You'll Never Talk Alone' wins regional tech award

A LJMU partnership project to connect disadvantaged families to 5G has won a prestigious tech award.

The so-called You’ll Never Talk Alone 5G project provides superfast wifi for people living in Kensington using a street-level wireless mesh network.

The project, which involves teams from the School of Computing and Mathematics, scooped the ‘Tech for Good’ award at the 2021 Prolific North Tech Awards.

L5G run by Liverpool Social Services supports a range of health and social systems by connecting ‘offline’ families to video and telecare services, such as online consultations.

The award citation says: “The importance of connectivity for disadvantaged families was brought in to sharp focus when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and remains a key issue in ensuring equal access to public health services in the future.”

LJMU experts

LJMU is completing three strands of the pioneering project: optimising the network to improve efficiency of data throughput; developing a tool to spot potential security risks; and using AI in a clinical trial to remotely recognize and log pressure ulcers, a major issue for the NHS.

Colleagues working on the projects include Atif Waraich, Director the School, Michael MacKay and Alessandro Roschella, Bo Zhou, Carl Chalmers and Paul Fergus.

Dr Waraich said:  “This award recognizes the important contribution to both health and social care that technologies such as 5G can provide. High-speed networks will enable us to develop systems that can support people in deprived areas both at home and within clinical environments. We are pleased to be innovating in this area.”

Read the Forbes Magazine article on the launch of Liverpool 5G.